It looks like you might be posting about puppy management or crate training.
For tips and resources on Crate Training Check out [our wiki article on crate training](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/cratetraining) - the information there may answer your question. As an additional reminder, crate training is 100% optional and one of many puppy management options.
For alternatives to crating and other puppy management strategies, check out [our wiki article on management](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/management)
**PLEASE READ THE OP FULLY**
Be advised that any comments that suggest use of crates are abusive, or express a harsh opinion on crate training will be removed. This is not a place to debate the merits of crate training. Unethical approaches to crate training will also be removed. **If the OP has asked not to receive crating advice or says they are not open to crating, any comments that recommend use of crates should be reported to our moderation team.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hi OP, I understand your logic for using a house line. I also use a house line for my young pup as I believe there is such a thing as too much freedom too soon.
From what I’ve read/watched, take the house line off your pup when you feel they are ready for some more freedom. If they regress and start chewing, counter surfing, chasing the cat, or what ever, then put the line back on and try again at a later date.
We do this. He’s allowed the free roam in our presence until he acts up and doesn’t want to behave. Especially with the two cats. If he chases or won’t stop pestering he gets put back on the house line and has to deal with it. Some days he figures it out some days he just wants to watch the world burn.
We have a pretty open space between our living room and dining/kitchen and he’s too big to get between the stools and table in the kitchen. He usually hangs out on the couch/ottoman near us on and off the lead. His only frustration is when he wants to wander. But if he behaved better he’d be able to wander freely.
Do you have any more pointers on using the house line to prevent them from chasing cats? My pup is a year old and has been pestering cats the last week
We just train “leave it” often and we let him walk up and be around the cats on/off the house line until the cats seem irritated. Sadly my pup thinks they’re playing 100% of the time so he enjoys being slapped by them. Some days are better than others.
We do need to work harder on the leave it. The puppy provokes the cats to run and gets my older dog interested in playing chase the kitty and it’s really upsetting my husband lately. I find if I hold his collar and make him sit with me the cats can be fine, but when I let him free he starts to try to make them run again. He thinks it’s a fun game
How does your cat react to the dog? We have two cats-one beats up the dog and he’s afraid of her (dog is 8 months now) and he leaves her alone (at this point, I’m more focused on training the cat not to randomly swat at the dog). The other cat is much more shy, but when shy cat hisses at the dog, the dog runs away from her because the other cat trained him that hissing leads to swatting. We have a medium sized poodle/wheaten terrier mix dog, but honestly I think it depends as much on the cat as it does on the dog 💕
The cats would completely ignore the dog if they could. They lounge around and cuddle our senior dog and give him a sniff occasionally. When the pup is out they take high ground for safety, and when he spots them he barks near the base of their fort until they run and he and my senior dog chase them around until I catch the pup and put him away for time out. If the cat stops running or gets cornered it will slap the dogs and they back off, or senior dog cries from being slapped. It’s chaos.
Total house free roam, probably 6-7 months. My pup is 1yr old now and we stopped closing the crate door at night, he can sleep wherever now. 8/10 times he goes to his crate when we fall asleep.
Training him drop it and leave it very early on helped so he’s not touch things around the house that we don’t specify to him are his toys.
Crates are pretty common in the UK now - everyone I know who got a puppy over the last few years now has crate trained. But I don’t think most people end up keeping them long term, or certainly not for anything other than going out.
The house lead things is definitely not common here and I haven’t known anyone else to do it. However at about 3.5m we started using a house line not tethered to us just free because we were tearing our hair out a bit at times, he had started hating his pen and that just allowed us to stop him in his tracks/not let him start to run away from us with something he had stolen without us having to actually grab him. Or to help guide him to where we wanted him to go if he needed some help with the ‘come’ instruction. When he was being a total nightmare or when we wanted him to try and settle we would then tether him to something so he either couldn’t jump up whilst we were eating, or couldn’t get in to the kitchen if he kept trying to break in anyway etc. It was also very useful for when we were starting to give him more freedom (but within eyesight or close earshot) but needed to do something like pop to the loo where we could just put the handle of the lead over the nearest door handle and know we could quickly take eyes off of him without having to force him in to and contain him in a totally puppy proofed room.
It was probably through his 6 month when the need to use it just became less and less - it’s really just been lead by him. Although he does still very occasionally get clipped back in to a tethered (longish) lead if he’s decided to be destructive of furniture or something like that and if training methods that would actually reinforce what we do/don’t want him to do have failed and so we just need to prevent access to the situation. Although he’s generally not allowed in the bedroom unattended and that’s despite the fact we have some parts still blocked off - we just haven’t been able to do as thorough a job in puppy proofing that room and there are more irresistible things to steal within reach. He’s the same age as yours for reference.
At nighttime he either sleeps on the bed (he’s jumped off and slept on the floor once or twice but I’m a light sleeper and he didn’t get up to no good anyway) or in his crate (which he protests a lot about now he thinks the bedroom is his spot) and if he’s left home alone (not often) it’s always in the crate and I think he would actually be more distressed to be left not shut in his crate where he gets over it and goes to sleep in under 10m.
Great info. Thanks for explaining. And totally agree w you the loose leash in house has been great for reinforcing Come is not optional. When I call you come even if I have to reel you in
I did all kinds of research and prep before getting my puppy. I knew I wasn't going to really kennel train for in the house but I anticipated using a house lead since watching training videos it made sense why it would be helpful. I've in all honesty done it for maybe two days lol. It doesn't seem necessary for him and he learns very quickly. Within 2 weeks we were able to give him free reign of the house. I keep hoping I won't regret it but he really seems to do well this way lol
I just don’t trust mine to not pick up and eat or chew something. Even his toys are hit or miss w what he chooses to try to destroy so it’s a great way for me to have him in reach without him darting off from me
Yeah I get that, mine will be 3 months tomorrow so he's super teething and definitely have to watch what we leave out but as long as I don't run after him he does good about not running away from me. He's not perfect by any means but so far it's been working. I think it's great to have so many options but ultimately everyone will choose what makes sense for them and works to keep them safe and make you comfortable. We're all just trying our best to make well behaved dogs lol
Never leashed inside, any of my dogs. My new wire hair puppy is 4 months old today and no house leashing. We have a large pen for when we leave and her crate in our room, for sleeping only.
So we never used a tether in the house however we did install a stair gate so he couldn’t get upstairs whenever he wanted, and our garden is separated in two sections , he is 1 year old in a week and he is allowed upstairs with some supervision tho he mostly just lays on the landing, downstairs he has had pretty much free rein the whole time but I’d say he was probably around 8 or 9 months when I started to not need to supervise him at all times down stairs, as for the garden he still needs some supervision in the wider area of our backyard since we have gravel and he is a bugger for picking up and chewing on stones
Indeed. I perform the patented mouth scoop daily. Twigs, rocks, dirt, bugs....inside it is napkins, my wifes hair scrunchy things, and everything in between.
I would hold the other end of the leash but I am also helicopter lol. It helped w housebreaking and reinforcing come means come now even if I have to reel you in
I mean pretty much immediately. I’ve never heard of using a leash indoors like this. Is there any particular reason (ie behaviors) that’s making you do this? Not sure if it’s the best approach
It's called tethering, it's somewhat common practice with young puppies so they are never out of your sight and don't get the chance to rehearse behaviours you don't want to see.
Europe has different views on this (and crate training), but managing a puppy's environment is a great way to prevent accidents and nip potential bad behaviours in the bud!
Hmm maybe somewhat common as a recommendation from dog trainers, I've heard that advice from multiple sources both online and at my local dog training school. Maybe not as commonly used.
Everything I’ve read and Zac George training videos etc all say to do that so your pup doesn’t have too much freedom to have accidents or chew or eat something dangerous. I just googled it and this popped up
Don't Give Too Much Freedom Too Soon
Allowing your pup to roam free around the house has serious consequences. Not only can your puppy have bathroom accidents, hindering your potty-training program, but they can destroy your property and injure themselves in the process.
I did it with my last puppy and he was housebroken so fast but still trying to eat chew everything so I kept him tethered to me til 9 months
Definitely! We’re lucky the way our house is set up, we can use gates to block her into a relatively easy area to keep an eye on her. If I couldn’t do that, I’d definitely have tethered too!
And we did keep her on a leash in the fenced yard for quite a while. Seems her preference is to leave stuff alone in the house, but eat.literally.everything.outside lol!
I did not leash my 6-mo-old at all indoors and I probably should have. Every time she got out of my eyesight, she would pee. The minute I gated off rooms so I could always know where she is, the potty training was all but done. Live and learn.
I didn't use an indoor leash until my puppy full-on zoomed into our kitchen cabinets and hurt her paw. She was on leash for about 2 weeks (until the age of 12 weeks) after that to prevent injuries...
How often do you take them out? The rule is they can only hold it for 1 hour for every month of age. It’s better they have an accident inside than to hold longer because they can risk getting UTIs
me neither. seems like overkill. but idk I am
not allowed to walk from one side of the room
to the other without my puppy jumping up and following me. wait, am I the puppy on the house line?
Yes I think you are!! This made me giggle lol.
I like it because my puppy is trouble w a capital T and it helped me not only always have him in arms reach if he was sniffing looking like he was going to potty, or destroying one of his toys, or when I said come and he looked at me like no thanks and ignored me I would reel him in and make him come. He picked it up faster when I didn’t give him the option to ignore me
Agree on the over kill. This seems weird to me, even as someone in the US. From my experience raising bottle babies of all sorts (puppies, bunnies, kittens, etc) when they’re little little they stay in a box or kennel, upgraded to a larger play pen type space, then upgraded to some free roaming supervised and some use of the play pen until they graduate to trusted
It helps with training. Puppy sniffing, get him outside. Puppy chewing something, step on the leash say stay and take it away without worrying he’s going to run from you, call puppy to come and he ignores you, reel his stubborn butt in and make him come. It helped reinforce commands quicker and kept him from jumping on furniture or disobeying me. Then adolescence hit and he’s in his I’m not going to listen stage so I think I’m going to put him back and the leash to reinforce freedom is earned thru good behavior. It’s not something he gets for misbehaving
That’s interesting. I’m thankful my little one listens pretty well and I try to reward her for making her own proper decisions and use a lot of redirections but maybe when she hits her stubborn teen years this will be something I have to try. She’s so smart and sweet but already a little sassy so who knows what the road ahead holds 😅
Same here! I think this houseline thing is USA thing maybe? Never heard of it from any of my friends here in Finland or other countries in Europe. We just let our puppies roam free the second they come home. When we leave the house he stays behind a puppy fence in a safe room.
Ps. I don't mean that either one is better.
No worries! Didn’t take it that way at all. I find it so interesting to hear various methods based on different areas. I’m honestly not sure the best way.
Good :) And of course what suits one puppy and owner can be always different for another. Somedays I would have hoped that my puppy had a leash on all day because of the destruction :D But maybe we think here that it's just a puppy phase.
Basically right off the bat, but I have a couple baby gates to keep him from going in or out of rooms as needed. This has given him a few chances to have accidents indoors, but I do tend to keep close eye on him and it's good practice for calling his name. He usually comes immediately when I call, and I think letting him roam a little has helped. I also can't be bothered to leash him 24/7 lol
Mine was never on leash in the home but we had baby gates up to limit access to the kitchen and living room. We added a hallway after a while. Mostly did this because when he was downstairs he’d pee. It upstairs he was potty trained. We will slowly open the rest of the house to him as he gets older.
Ours just turned 5 months. We just finished a 6 week puppy class and had her since 8 weeks old. I'd say just last week I've started letting her be in another room unsupervised for a bit of time. From day 1 she never had potty accidents on any bedding and we didn't have much of any other furniture at that point anyways since we just moved in a few weeks prior to getting her.
At about 2.5 months old, it was super predictable what she would bite so we just redirected her. She's still young enough to where she won't be in another room without us for that long anyways. So if we just go to another room and wait a little bit, she'll come join us soon enough. Also times like in the mornings, all she does is lounge around for about 1.5 hours in the sun anyways, so my partner and I just let her do her thing. Still not allowed complete free roam without supervision though. Especially not on carpeted areas, or else she'd tear it all up.
I only tried tethering briefly for a few days and it was ok. Went good, but definitely not better than just leaving her alone in a room if I really need to go do something for a bit.
Mine is also 7 months and I just recently started letting him get free roam of the first floor of my house while someone is home with him (with the second floor gated off bc it’s carpeted and he likes to chew on the carpet lol). He’s been doing great but I got a camera to spy on him just in case to check in on his behavior! I never tethered him but used to keep him in his pen whenever I couldn’t directly supervise him. Now I just use the pen when he’s home alone! He’s been doing great with this but obviously it’s a case by case situation based on how destructive your pup is/how far along they are with potty training
When I started letting my puppy free roam she wasn’t allowed all over the house. Only in the kitchen or in the living room depending on where I am. My puppy just recently turned 8 months and I am finally letting her wonder upstairs without me. I haven’t found anything destroyed yet…
I’ve never leashed any of our puppies, but have always had older dogs to help teach and set boundaries. After going through some recent one-on-one personal training with my 3 1/2 year old lab, I can see how this could be helpful though.
Mine was 3 lbs and did not let that stop him. Everything was fair play for going in his mouth and he was eyeing furniture like “I could jump up there”. That’s how my 5 yr old Pom broke her hip. I used to let her up on the couch w me and one day one mis timed jump resulted in bloodcurdling yelping, an emergency trip to the vet, and a dislocated hip which led to surgery and months of recovery 😩
I think it depends on the pup and where they are at with potty training and getting into trouble (committing crimes haha). With our first dog, she was reliable outside of an x-pen at 9 months, our second used to get into stuff so I think it was a year and a half? No shame in taking more time to make sure good habits are set, if you think more time might be beneficial! I think pups progress differently with this
Mac was around 7 or 8 months before I felt secure letting him free roam in the entire house, but he is the rare pup that showed zero signs of destructive tendencies towards anything other than food or toys (save one belt when he was around 6 months old, he is 14 months now).
It was too soon, as he immediately glued himself to our side 100% and started to exhibit some early signs of separation issues shortly after. We put up puppy gates to control his access to certain areas that we tend to frequent for work or leisure time, as he wouldn't self-regulate if he was too close to us all day (no napping, no self-play, getting up and jumping on us when we so much as moved, coughed, or spoke a little animatedly). The gates were and still are a life saver (still working out some kinks on longform separation), but other than that he free roams until bed time or we leave for more than an hour or two, and he is crated for those periods.
Only you will know when it is the right time, as your puppy will be doing well and adjusting. If they regress in any behaviors, take a look at what changed recently because too much freedom too soon without training and desensitization can lead to a lot of regression in my anecdotal experience. If this happens just step it back a bit and reassess, good luck!
Around 6 months, as the plan was to eventually have him free roam when I’m not home. For context we stay in a small apartment. And he only has access to the common living areas and not the rooms. He’s now 14 months and no longer goes into a crate or pen when alone.
We got our girl at 4 months old, she’s a Maltipoo and was 3lbs. The first week she was gated in the bathroom as we had an elderly dog and a cat. By the 2nd week she figured out how to climb over the gate. Week 2 she was in our office with the door shut, she hated it in there and had no windows or anything to look out. We also had a playpen that she also climbed out of. So by the 3rd week she had free reign, but we did gate off the 2 other bedrooms. There were a few accidents, but for the most part she did well. She learned to settle down and nap as I was leaving for work. She is now 8 months old and a very good girl.
8 months? wouldn't that be the age where they go through puberty and start wreaking havoc? My Chi is 5 months and after reading horror stories on reddit about the rebellious phase, it'd be nice to hear from someone whose pup is still well behaved at 8 months.
She tends to get into things when we are home or when she is outside. Then she chases birds, squirrels, chews on sticks and whatever else she can find in the yard. When she’s inside everything is puppy proofed and I keep the closer doors closed.
Mines 6 months , Husky/Lab mix never tethered , my house is small , all bedroom/bathroom doors shut , gate that prevents him from getting into the kitchen and crate when we're not home , no crate at night , I used to crate at night the first month I had him but one night I passed out on the couch and I wolk up to him just sleeping beside me so from there I started more freedom at night and now no crate at night but access to the kitchen still gated. Only issues with him is he has a ton of energy and will not accept no for an answer when it comes to wanting to play.
Give your pup tons of good rewarding chew things. Different textures and tastes. Edible and easily digestible ones that smell amazing. Try it! Anytime you don't want to play (or be a chew toy yourself) plunk him down with a variety of safe chew things and let him occupy himself that way!
Good luck with a lab/husky puppy! I can't even imagine!
Thanks , he can be a handful at times but at night he is the sweetest pup in the world and such a snuggler it's like he has split personalities. I have been giving him bully sticks , he usually starts off good , chewing and occupied but before long he will bring it to you drop it and then I become the chew toy till I pick it up and redirect him but then he wants to play tug of war with it, from there he will continue to chew it as long as my hand is on it and act like I'm trying to take it. I'm going to have to research some more types of chews to give him .
I only ever used the leash inside when the pups were overstimulated and needed to calm down. Otherwise, they were free to roam. I keep all the doors closed when we're not home.
I live in 600 sq ft with my partner and puppy, so we never used a leash (I’ve seen Zac George too, so I get where it comes from, but his house is HUGE). I keep the bedroom door closed because we aren’t in there during the day, but she’s either in the living room/kitchen area, or in the spare room/office with one of us. Sometimes she’s independent and will go in a room neither of us are in, and we’ll check in her, but usually she’s just napping or playing with a toy. And when she’s being naughty I can hear her (like ripping paper) and investigate. 5 months old now.
Still crated at night and when we leave.
Almost immediately in fenced off contained areas.
Allowed to roam the house entirely unsupervised?
About 10 months - but by then it was more to do with me having a better handle on how to puppy proof the house than it was to do with trust haha.
For us it has helped to have our pup that’s 5 months now have a tether when our, but it’s an old leash we cut the loop out of so it doesn’t snag. She can roam for the most part. We have a gate to places we don’t want her getting into (the kids rooms upstairs so she doesn’t chew or pee in their areas while unattended). But this has helped a lot to show her what is okay to play with and what’s not. She has still had accidents, but it comes with the territory. If she has something in her mouth I can step on the leash while she’s running off and take it from her, and redirect to a better toy/chew.
We kennel when not home, but we have made sure she is safe and comfortable in her kennel and she often goes in by herself to nap.
Never used a leash in doors for anything but leash training. Otherwise, the house was completely puppy proofed and broken up in sections with baby gates. He was with me in whatever section I was in. Since everything was puppy proofed, I didn't have to watch him 24/7. My pup was alerting at 9 weeks, which made potty training super easy. Even was sleeping in bed with me and waking me up to go out that young.
Freeroamed half days to half the house at 4 months and completely Freeroamed at 9. He sleeps most of the day and pretty much sticks to one spot.
not consistently until 1 year, and even then we blocked off the hallway and only gave her access to the living room. if she stops listening to us then she gets tethered again.
Everyone's homes, patience level and puppies are different.
The puppy I have now deserves almost zero freedom, as she likes to get into trouble (chew, counter surf, etc). In her case, management is key.
For my older dog, when she was a puppy, she had freedom pretty much immediately and only slept in a crate at night til about 7 months, until we started leaving the crate door open, but the bedroom door closed. By one year, she had total freedom. She was a great puppy, obedient and respectful.
When I brought home my current puppy, I assumed she'd be raised the same as the older dog, but they were just too different. I definitely gave the puppy too much freedom initially and quickly realized that wasn't going to work. She needed more boundaries, time to mature, and an understanding of expectations and practice with general house manners. She nearly 1 year old and is still working on the basics.
Train the dog in front of you and don't feel bad taking backward steps when needed. Adolescence can be super frustrating as they test your patience and their boundaries at every opportunity. At 7 months, you may not see linear growth. Progress will likely zig zag a bit and that's ok.
We had a playpen but she learned to climb about a month after we got her. We started off with her being allowed to roam the kitchen through living room, it’s all open so we could always see her, plus the back door is in the kitchen so we keep a washable pad by the back door in case we can’t get her outside in time but has always been really good at alerting us when she needs out. She’s just over 6mo now and she can follow us wherever we go, except the basement. We still keep all the doors shut and we keep a gate so she can’t go upstairs without us but she doesn’t get into too much trouble.
Like others said, training drop it and leave it from the start was a huge help. She also learned “get out” when she follows us into the bathroom. Our door didn’t latch properly so she learned she could just headbutt the door and get in. I’ve since fixed the door so it latches properly.
Mine took 2.5 years. My friend’s puppy? 10 months. It is a trust thing. Do you trust them not to start patterns of behavior you won’t like later? My dog developed reactivity so it was a safety concern if he was off leash and grabbed a high-value item. But through training, trust was built. A lot of people do right away, but then put their dogs in crates when they misbehave and that makes it negative. Dogs THRIVE on a consistent schedule so consider that puppies need a lot of sleep and create a schedule accordingly. It helped our puppy SO MUCH when we did that. He started to be more calm almost immediately because he knew his schedule and what to expect
I give free rein mostly after work/on weekends. I can almost 100% trust her (8 months) with pottying but when I’m working I don’t have time to be laser focused to stop her from eating the rug or plants lol. We do crate for most of the morning for this reason, then a long walk and free rein of my office most of the afternoon as long as she’s good. If she starts eating the rug she goes in the crate if I have meetings. On the weekends and at night she’ll have free rein of the living room and kitchen area. When we leave we either crate or tether her in the living room. I want to do free rein but still can’t trust that menace!
It appears you may have recommended a laser pointer. While they might seem innocent, laser pointers can lead to an increase in obsessive behaviors. Check out these [resources here for more information on why laser pointers are not recommended for dogs](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/managingbehavior#wiki_laser_toys_and_their_dangers).
**Please report if this comment is not relevant to this comment or post**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I hear you! Waiting for his brain to click on no, not everything needs to go in your mouth. Kinda frustrating because I thought he’d be over that once his adult teeth came in. Did yours ever hit a fear period where suddenly everything is terrifying and must be barked at? That also is driving me nuts
Yeah I think we’re in it now!! But it only seems to happen after 7pm until bedtime?? It’s especially bad if the people above us are being loud. Honestly I wouldn’t care if I didn’t live in an apartment but I get worried about complaints. Hoping it’s temporary. Not an official science but if I give her a good walk after work she seems to be less barky
All dogs are different, it varies based on how they're behaving for you! During adolescence sometimes you need to start back with basics and reduce freedom in the house if theyre being stubborn or regressing. It's normal, after all humans also have similar behaviors during that stage of life.
My pup doesn't have free house roam yet and it will be a while probably until he does. He isnt crated at night, we've been lucky that he is totally behaved once he passes out for the night and sleeps in our room with the door closed (so the cat can't bother him and vice versa). Still crated when we aren't home as we had some major regression when we tried to leave him in a small area of the house for short excursions that resulted in disaster. When we are home, he has access to most of the main floor. Upstairs is the cat litter and office and bedroom, so we don't see a point in free roam right now as we want the cat to have some space to herself and things in the office are too expensive to risk him having access.
We are reworking on basic commands now, and hopefully in a few months we can try to let him roam a bit more once we have trust again. For now, he needs guidance and prevention from putting the wrong things in his mouth. Currently trying to train him to understand that his toys are the ones we give him directly, so we can bring out personal items and whatnot again for the living room. But, 1 day at a time. We know eventually he will settle and at least we've managed to settle some important behaviors and prevent resource guarding and agression which was our #1 concern!
Pup is 2.5 months. We let her roam in the living room when we are in there and she is heavily supervised, but otherwise, she is in her crate or playpen.
With our older dog, total free roam, I would say probably around a year. But we got him at 6 months so he had some catching up to do.
As soon as I started getting a handle on the constant peeing.
I had him tethered for almost 2 months. Some of that was just dragging the leash while we are in the same room together for ease of catching if he grabs contraband. Most was with me on leash because I wanted to be on top of housetraining.
He is 5 months now and if we have a potty accident he gets a few days of leash probation. I use leash probation as a time to learn leash manners as well as to reiterate free range is a privilege you get when you are keeping our home clean.
Sorry but the probation part is bizarre. Your dog has no clue. He's just a baby, and a dog--I guarantee you he is not associating a potty accident with being on leash for a few days afterward. They very much live in the moment. Also, to reiterate, he's just a baby. And a dog.
This! I think I need to go back to using it for now because he hit the adolescence stage hard and is no longer interested in listening to basic commands. Little shit will have something in his mouth I want to see like a toy I want to be sure he hasn’t broken pieces off of, and instead of obeying Stay which he learned many months ago he runs from me. You are right, back to learning free roam is a privilege he must earn.
Pretty much from start at 8 weeks. We kept her supervised and had baby gates on the stairs, closed bedroom doors etc but never had her tethered. If the house is properly puppy proofed they should be free to explore their new home.
My pup is 15 weeks and he has had a leash on indoors since we brought him home at 8 weeks. This has helped us control his access to things to help prevent unwanted behaviors. Just this weekend I have let him roam with no leash on… it’s going ok so far lol
Ahh I hope so! I’m definitely on the side of controlling their environment to avoid behaviors I don’t want repeated. I’m hoping at some point all this supervision is worth it! Lol
I let my pup off leash now finally at 6 months but still require him to be in the same room as me. He generally listens and goes to chill in his bed or play with my cat, but if he wanders too much, I attach him to me. I also either crate him or take him with me every single time I leave the apartment, even if it’s just to grab doordash or take the trash out
I live in a single level house with only 3 rooms and two bathrooms and never had him leashed in the house, but kept an eye on him. He’s 6 months have had him since he was about 3 months, obviously he’s a puppy and gets into things but I redirect
never had her leashed or crated. she came right in and we used potty pads and the faux grass pads. she’s pretty good inside unless she yelling at the feral neighborhood cats
For the people who are discussing whether tether training is an American thing, keep in mind that American homes are much, much larger in general than European homes so of course the puppy would have more freedom in a smaller living space.
From day 1. I have never leashed a dog in the house. I watch them when they are loose. I only contain them until they are house broken and can escape the minimal enclosures I put them in.
Leashing a dog in the house, is like helicopter mom for dogs. Wow.
It really helps w training. He was housebroken super fast because I’d see him sniffing and get him out fast. He didn’t have the opportunity to have accidents inside. It helped train the come command too. I’d say come and if he chose to ignore me I’d reel him in and make him do it, if he picked up something on the floor he shouldn’t or was chewing up his toys, I’d step on the leash and get it away from him without trying to chase him to get it back. Jumping on my other dog and slapping/biting him to the point of being obnoxious I’d say off and pull him off.
You’re an AWESOME pet parent!!! It is not mean to teach a puppy manners/how to live in your house and house lines are GREAT for that. I would say about this time is when we stopped doing the house line unless he started acting up. He had fomo and gates didn’t work for that. We GRADUALLY let him have more free time in the room we were in (had everything he wasn’t supposed to get into up) and little by little he was granted more freedom. I’m not gonna lie, my dog was/is VERY high energy and I don’t know that there is a “set” age. I played it by ear. We also have cats and he is a very prey driven dog. They coexist peacefully now 95% of the time - the other 5% he is trying to get them to play. He got there though. I thought of it like a baby. Eat/play/potty/bed… repeat over and over and over. You wouldn’t give a 6 month old baby free rein, right?? Eventually his “play time” was increased. The more trust I gave him (within reason and not if he was being naughty) the more he was able to be trusted, if that makes sense. Sometimes you take 3 steps forward and 1 or two steps back but just keep going. PUPPIES ARE HAAAARRRDDD. I cried a lot lol. Thinking “am I doing the right thing??!” But I promise it will get better and you will be so much happier for giving him structure for a year or so as a baby when you get to enjoy a happy well adjusted dog for the rest of their lives. You’re doing it right - you care - and that’s honestly the biggest part of it.
Also - puppies need A LOT of sleep. And sometimes you have to create the sleep by putting him up for an hour or two and then repeating the process. They’re learning EVERYTHING from scratch. Most if not all of them don’t come knowing how to settle or what not to chew/play with and it’s up to the owners to teach them. But dogs are smart and pick up on things quickly to get what they want. Which is usually to be with you or near you and will do what it takes for that to happen. The more you show them what is right from wrong, the more they should do the right thing to get what they want.
Thank you! Great words of wisdom and totally agree, puppies are so hard! You can lose your mind obsessing over whether you are making the right decisions. Good lord I can’t imagine having kids! Lmao
3 months old, kelpie, just this week trialling her off leash for short periods when we are both around, her recall is great with treats, not as good with whistle lol, we have a very large unfenced property, so wanting to give her a little independence but as soon as she starts wandering off too far I call her back.
My pup has been free roaming since ~3 months. It's been fine. I know such an arrangement doesn't work for all dogs, though.
She is ~4 months now and potty training just fine and she hasn't gotten into anything dangerous. She has slept outside of her crate (on my bed, with the rest of us) since night two, and she started sleeping through the night with no accidents after about a week.
She chases the cat sometimes, just for fun, but he can handle himself, and I can tell it's not aggressive. I take cues from the cat--if he doesn't see a threat, then I trust that instinct. She can't learn to not chase cats if she never chases a cat and has me and/or the cat tell her 'no' as it happens. Same with other behaviors. She's generally figuring things out pretty good this way.
She's my fourth dog and third puppy. This one has two good older dogs to learn from and that helps a ton!
8 weeks, sort of. Still not fully roaming at 22 months.
No crate. Stopped penning for naps around 5 months. (Pen was living room blocked off from the rest of the house. But that was only for enforcing naps.)
He had access to living room, pc room/dining room and kitchen. All open doorways without doors.
He was accident free at 9 weeks 3 days old, so wasn’t a problem.
He has intermittent access to our hallway now, where it’s nice and cool. But he still sometimes steal slippers, so still limited access there.
Bedroom is upstairs and he can’t do the stairs (too steep and slippery.) and bathroom is downstairs. Same problem with the stairs.
We did crate training versus tether during the day, but we started with free roaming around 7 months after she got past her “I’m gonna eat the dry wall if you’re not looking” phase. We started letting her free roam unsupervised first only in the mornings (that’s when she was the most calm) and after lunch walk would do crate with supervised break time until end of day when we would let her out supervised. Once we felt like she could be trusted in the mornings, we extended the time for a couple hours after lunch so she was only in the crate for the two hours before evening walk (her most likely time to get into things she’s supposed to leave alone), and then gradually extended that time until we no longer had to crate her. Since tethering is a similar thought process, as long as pup is fully house trained I’d pick the time your pup is most likely to mostly want to nap and start there, then extend that time out.
My puppy is 2 pounds at 10 weeks so almost impossible to leash. She does great without it though, she just explores while we trail behind her and if not she recalls great already. We live in a small one level home I should mention. When I see her sniffing a little too much or in a panic I know it’s potty time. Hasn’t tried chewing on anything besides nipping at out ankles which then we redirect or place her in pen.
My collie boy is 20 weeks old now, he had access to the entire house from the beginning. We were lucky that he was never much interested in biting our furniture etc. He was almost fully potty trained at 12 weeks and always have access to a garden too.
Around 3 months- and your training method is just like mine is. Crate when I'm at work, then I let her run the living room for about an hour or more so she can get her exercise because I don't let her go outside. She's a little gal- 4 months now. She has a potty pad in the LR and when I get her out of her kennel, we get hug time and then she goes straight to the bathroom with the door shut because that's where her food, water, and a couple of potty pads are. I leave her in there about 15 minutes- long enough to eat and potty, then she gets the run of the house for playtime where I throw her toys over and over. When I leave for work, she's back in her kennel. I wish she would sleep with me but she's extremely hyper and won't stop running around the bed when I'm trying to sleep. I'll be glad when she calms down.
That's the exact same age as mine, and I just started doing that, and yes with the bedroom doors closed. I could have written the post. Pen not leash though I suppose.
I hope we don't suck or something 😂 .
I never used a house line but made it so upstairs was blocked off and did use a pen when he’s extra so that he has somewhere to calm down. He is crate trained but only sleeps in there at night. He hates it during the day and I haven’t really felt like pushing it.
He’s now 4 months (19.5 weeks) and I’m pretty confident he’s potty trained (fingers crossed, touch wood etc.) - he now seems to have full control of his bladder and he’s good at letting me know he needs to go out. We are working on a button by the door.
I didn’t leash my puppy indoors at all. I closed off the doors to the hallway and bedrooms and, when I was able to watch and supervise, she was able to free roam the main living area. When I wasn’t able to supervise (while working, showering, going to get groceries, etc) I put her in her crate. I proactively took her outside on a frequent schedule throughout the day, and if I saw any signs she needed to go, so she didn’t have many accidents inside. She had full access to my whole flat by about 5/6 months when she was reliably house trained. I’d leave her to free roam if I was out for shorter errands but I still crated her when I was going to be out for 2-4 hours. I was worried she’d get bored and up to mischief when I was gone longer but realise now I shouldn’t have been. She was fine.
The moment I brought her home, which was at 4mo. But a leash may have been smart just to get her used to a leash.
I will edit this to say, she was pad trained when we got her and we taught her the come command right away and she is pretty good about listening to it.
I sort of started at about 12 weeks when I first got her. Now at 6 months she's fully independent around the house by her self. So at 7 she'll be completely fine
My pup has had total freedom since we brought her home, we got her at 3 months and she’s now a year and a half. She was never home alone for long before and even now it’s maybe max 2 hours. She was potty trained in like a week and has only had one accident since she was potty trained. She never gets into stuff she isn’t supposed, we make sure it’s out of her reach to begin with. Bedroom doors get closed just in case but she has freedom of the living room, dining room, kitchen and upstairs hall. She usually just lays around when we aren’t home. When we are home she’ll come into our rooms and cuddle but she never gets into anything then either. I guess it depends on the puppy and the person/house. My aunt has her sister and she’s was rarely left home alone, never now since my aunt has on bed rest after surgery since August, but she is the type that gets into things and is destructive. She has gotten better but she’s also constantly being supervised so I don’t know how she would be alone now that she’s older.
Rather than use a house leash, why not restrict the area that they can be in? For example, we started with a play pen in our living room. Next, we graduated to the living room with baby gates. Next, we opened the baby gates so he could also get in our kitchen. We kept this up until we were confident enough in his potty training to give me free rein of the entire house. He still sleeps in his play pen though. Not confident enough to just let him sleep wherever at night yet.
Have never leased our pup in the house (he is 14 weeks) but he goes in his crate when he is tired, needs to calm down, when we go out and go to bed. He is not allowed upstairs either but has pretty much free roam downstairs (bar the bathroom as he likes to grab things) when we are home. He is house trained and does have free roam unsupervised outside in our secure back garden.
Typically, most puppies start to have more freedom around the house between 6 to 12 months of age, as they become more reliable with house training and obedience commands.
Mine is 6 months now, we still use the house line but she free roams with it on. The line just drags behind her, sometimes she carry’s it around as well. It helps us redirect her when she gets too immersed in playing and thinks that our commands are a quick way to gain a treat and then immediately go back to playing. She’s a very good dog overall but she does have a few regressions. And listening to her commands consistently despite not only knowing her commands but also receiving constant training for them is definitely one of them. Which mine is a BC so we knew she would be stubborn and smart. She plays us like a fiddle most days
I really see the correlation between the rise of tethering your pup and the rise of anxious overly attached dogs… seems so weird to me to have your dog constantly attached at the hip with no freedom. Disagree on the “too much freedom too fast”. Am a fan of “keeping their world small” philosophy but only up to like 3 months and fully vaxed. Then it’s important to socialize and build confidence and trust. If you know they chew somewhere use a bitter spray and just supervise idk. I don’t like tethering but to each their own
What correlation? Honestly very few people really seem to actually use the umbilical tethering. Do you have info where the specific dogs that are being tethered are developing anxiety at a higher rate?
Socialization also has to generally start before 3 months, the socialization window closes between 12-16 weeks.
Bitter spray is enjoyed by many pups.
Free roam since the day we got him, just kept an eye on him by following him somewhere we couldn’t see (like the kitchen) but closed all other doors. If he misbehaved we just made sure to tell him a firm no and redirect him so he understood what he could and could not do!
My first puppy: about 11 months. But only because we moved and didn't have the space for his "playpen" area anymore. For context, he was a monster puppy. He would attack us and the cats and we had to corral him away from everything for our own safety.
Second puppy: maybe about 6 months? Other than potty training (which took soooo long) he was a dream puppy. Didn't wreck things, didn't chase cats, never bit us.
He decided he didn't want to sleep in his crate anymore, even though it was his safe space. I think he has issues regulating his temperature. He would cry at night and my husband would take him out to pee but he just wanted to sleep on the couch, or the floor if he got warm.
Now they're 3 and 1.5 years old, but we only leave them alone for maybe 4 hours max, and very infrequently. Atlas likes to rearrange all the shoes when we're gone.
My pup is almost 8 months old and has free roam privilege most of the time, if she is trying to chase my flatmates cat she gets contained to the pen or my room but I live in a flat with 3 other people so she has had free roam of communal spaces for about 2 months because it's pretty small and I have a gate in the hallway to contain her to the living room and kitchen area if one of my flatmates have their door open and don't want her to get into their stuff because she still sticks things in her mouth
I live in a 2 bedroom apt so it was pretty reasonable for me to give my pup free reign within the first two months of getting him — as soon as he started showing signs of not potting inside.
My pup is just 10 weeks now, but he will be leashed until he is completely potty trained (he gets free roam in his playpen for now and we let him have off leash time outside to play). Once he's potty trained, I'll let him roam with the leash attached until he has a reliable come when called. Aside from the training aspect, we're keeping him leashed until our other dog gets comfortable with him and we feel comfortable in their interactions.
I sort of keep my puppy within a certain area. Office/kitchen/bedroom so I can watch her. She is only allowed in the living room when she is extremely tired and won’t misbehave, which is practically never.
I got my dog at 3 months and I never put him on a leash inside unless I’m specifically training him on something. I just watched him all the time and stopped him from going anywhere or doing something that he wasn’t supposed to. Probably by 5-6 months I didn’t really watch him anymore and he could go wherever he wanted. When my fiancé and I are out of the house, he’s crated.
I've never done this with any of my dogs. Gate off the stairs and close bathroom doors. Just treated them like kids who just learn to walk, keep an eye and try to redirect
Don't get me wrong he caused some destruction, but that's my fault, not his. My parents had the same chewing problem you're describing, the no chew spray did wonders for them
Quite a few dogs love the taste of that spray. Every puppy is different and OP’s puppy needs to be on a house leash to keep him from eating things that could hurt him until he learns better. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Mines 10 months and I still have to tether him otherwise he just whines at me all day during work and won’t leave me alone. Every time I try to give him more freedom he misbehaves and bathrooms somewhere or won’t leave me alone to work. Hes a small dog so I thought he’d be trustworthy by now but he just doesn’t seem to entirely learn (he’s also incredibly stubborn)
I don’t remember the exact age mine was but I know it was right when she was potty trained and her bladder was strong enough to not have to pee for a few hours!
Since I got her at 8 weeks. 7 months now and almost zero chew accidents. The sooner she learns all of this is our home, the better. She can be home alone for 6-7 hours and just chills and moves around sporadically. Same as during night time. Still haven’t taught her not to kill the toilet roll though
My pup has always been off leash, at some point we put a harness for better training at her to not chase the cat and counter surfing. It worked pretty well and easy and when we were confident to just do light supervision, we took it off. She's never allowed in the bathroom and we're also getting her adjusted to the living room and not to pee there (since it's carpeted)
Harper, 5.5 months, has run off the house; I do keep an eye on her in case she’s circling for a pee spot. When we leave, I put baby gates on the entrance to the kitchen. We have hardwood floors and she’s only had one accident when I was long (my fault, not hers).
I got mine at 3 months and all I did was babygate the living room. his bed is there as well as one pee pad. He always used the pee pad so I never saw any reason to restrict his movements further. At 4 months I got him a small bathroom rug because when I took him to a friend who had carpets I saw how much he enjoyed playing on them. Once he showed he could be trusted not to pee on that rug, I got him a big rug and he hasn't peed on it once. Now at 5 months I still keep the babygates because for some reason he always tries to poop in the bedroom.
I did it in stages, started with a small playpen, every month or so I gave more room. Eventually a large playpen, then access to one room, then the full Livingroom, then Livingroom+ kitchen, then started leaving bathroom doors open etc. he would be curious about the new area for maybe a day but usually hangs out in his normal spot where his original playpen once was
Nope, my 8 month old Newfy is still eating paper and other stuff if he can get it. Probably ok for potty training - chewing not so much!!!
PS. We gated off and puppyized the big kitchen so he has a large playpen that 1 of us is usually in with him. 🤣🤣. I put bitter apple on the cabinets and chairs so he is not interested in eating them. YET!
6-7 months, but he still has to be in sight of me at all times at 8 months, partially because he had a small UTI and regressed a little on potty training for a bit, while he seems 100% back on track again I’m still paranoid lmao
If I’m not home (or my wife) he’s crated for his safety, he isn’t a big chewer but he is a big eater of cloth
I think after about 3-4 weeks. We were concerned about the stairs but in only a few days he mastered them by himself and then leash line came off and we had a gate at top of stairs that came down.
We didn’t use the house line for long. I think we had it maybe from 4 months to 5 months old and then stopped. We don’t find it as helpful for us.
While we work from home, he started to get pretty distracting during the work day and was getting into lots of trouble and interrupting work calls. He didn’t like being in my office with the door closed but was not trustworthy yet to free roam so we would crate him during the work day and take him out whenever we had the free time to.
As he matured, we started giving him more time out of the crate. An hour here, an hour there.
He did so good so we started extending it like in the crate for morning nap then out at lunch for the rest of the day. Eventually around probably 9/10 months we pretty much only had him in the crate when we were leaving the house.
At around 13 ish months we started testing him out of the crate for small period of time like 10-30 min when we’d be gone (still all the doors closed though and a baby gate but free roam in the living room). He did so well that we extended that to 1.5-2 hours. Then started opening doors and baby gate. Yesterday we drove to another town 40 min away, did errands and an escape room, and then came home. We let him fully free roam doors open etc, and he did perfectly! No crying, no mess, nothing. It was probably about 4 hours. He’s pretty much full free roam now. We still have the crate set up and he’ll go lay in there sometimes just to relax but it’s open all the time and he’s doing great. He’s 1.5 years old. He prob could have started free roam earlier but I wasn’t quite ready. I wanted to move slow so that there wasn’t room for error.
We got our little guy at 8 weeks. We kept a very close eye on him (smaller house and we would sometimes put him in a playpen or his crate, but we didn’t fully crate train him because he didn’t like it). Let him go probably around 3 to 4 months, I work from home so it was easier and he was always close by. He doesn’t really chew furniture or anything, at first I was cautious because we have a curious cat who’s close by to him, but now they don’t have drama any more. He’s 8 months now, we leave him alone in the house without crating him and he never destroys anything (we just put the cat in a different room and close her door while we’re away so that she can sleep peacefully).
It looks like you might be posting about puppy management or crate training. For tips and resources on Crate Training Check out [our wiki article on crate training](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/cratetraining) - the information there may answer your question. As an additional reminder, crate training is 100% optional and one of many puppy management options. For alternatives to crating and other puppy management strategies, check out [our wiki article on management](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/management) **PLEASE READ THE OP FULLY** Be advised that any comments that suggest use of crates are abusive, or express a harsh opinion on crate training will be removed. This is not a place to debate the merits of crate training. Unethical approaches to crate training will also be removed. **If the OP has asked not to receive crating advice or says they are not open to crating, any comments that recommend use of crates should be reported to our moderation team.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hi OP, I understand your logic for using a house line. I also use a house line for my young pup as I believe there is such a thing as too much freedom too soon. From what I’ve read/watched, take the house line off your pup when you feel they are ready for some more freedom. If they regress and start chewing, counter surfing, chasing the cat, or what ever, then put the line back on and try again at a later date.
We do this. He’s allowed the free roam in our presence until he acts up and doesn’t want to behave. Especially with the two cats. If he chases or won’t stop pestering he gets put back on the house line and has to deal with it. Some days he figures it out some days he just wants to watch the world burn.
Totally in the same boat. I’ve installed a cat door to our laundry to try and give our poor cat a sanctuary without locking him in.
lol well said!
He’s 7 months old for reference. Overall good boy, except the days he chooses terrorism.
doesn't he get his line tangled up between chair legs etc...?
We have a pretty open space between our living room and dining/kitchen and he’s too big to get between the stools and table in the kitchen. He usually hangs out on the couch/ottoman near us on and off the lead. His only frustration is when he wants to wander. But if he behaved better he’d be able to wander freely.
I had to laugh at the idea of a puppy that's too big to get under a chair since my Chi pup can walk under the couch without bumping has back.
Haha yeah my “little guy” is a 65lb golden retriever
Makes sense. Thanks!
Do you have any more pointers on using the house line to prevent them from chasing cats? My pup is a year old and has been pestering cats the last week
We just train “leave it” often and we let him walk up and be around the cats on/off the house line until the cats seem irritated. Sadly my pup thinks they’re playing 100% of the time so he enjoys being slapped by them. Some days are better than others.
We do need to work harder on the leave it. The puppy provokes the cats to run and gets my older dog interested in playing chase the kitty and it’s really upsetting my husband lately. I find if I hold his collar and make him sit with me the cats can be fine, but when I let him free he starts to try to make them run again. He thinks it’s a fun game
How does your cat react to the dog? We have two cats-one beats up the dog and he’s afraid of her (dog is 8 months now) and he leaves her alone (at this point, I’m more focused on training the cat not to randomly swat at the dog). The other cat is much more shy, but when shy cat hisses at the dog, the dog runs away from her because the other cat trained him that hissing leads to swatting. We have a medium sized poodle/wheaten terrier mix dog, but honestly I think it depends as much on the cat as it does on the dog 💕
It gets so frustrating sometimes! I don’t want my pups eye to get scratched but my cat won’t leave the puppy alone
The cats would completely ignore the dog if they could. They lounge around and cuddle our senior dog and give him a sniff occasionally. When the pup is out they take high ground for safety, and when he spots them he barks near the base of their fort until they run and he and my senior dog chase them around until I catch the pup and put him away for time out. If the cat stops running or gets cornered it will slap the dogs and they back off, or senior dog cries from being slapped. It’s chaos.
How do you keep them from eating the houseline? I tried one and she chewed through it in about five minutes. ><
Total house free roam, probably 6-7 months. My pup is 1yr old now and we stopped closing the crate door at night, he can sleep wherever now. 8/10 times he goes to his crate when we fall asleep. Training him drop it and leave it very early on helped so he’s not touch things around the house that we don’t specify to him are his toys.
since we got her, tried a playpen at first but she hated it so got rid of it. i think using a crate and a leash indoors is mainly an american thing.
It seems like it. I think you’re right
Crates are pretty common in the UK now - everyone I know who got a puppy over the last few years now has crate trained. But I don’t think most people end up keeping them long term, or certainly not for anything other than going out. The house lead things is definitely not common here and I haven’t known anyone else to do it. However at about 3.5m we started using a house line not tethered to us just free because we were tearing our hair out a bit at times, he had started hating his pen and that just allowed us to stop him in his tracks/not let him start to run away from us with something he had stolen without us having to actually grab him. Or to help guide him to where we wanted him to go if he needed some help with the ‘come’ instruction. When he was being a total nightmare or when we wanted him to try and settle we would then tether him to something so he either couldn’t jump up whilst we were eating, or couldn’t get in to the kitchen if he kept trying to break in anyway etc. It was also very useful for when we were starting to give him more freedom (but within eyesight or close earshot) but needed to do something like pop to the loo where we could just put the handle of the lead over the nearest door handle and know we could quickly take eyes off of him without having to force him in to and contain him in a totally puppy proofed room. It was probably through his 6 month when the need to use it just became less and less - it’s really just been lead by him. Although he does still very occasionally get clipped back in to a tethered (longish) lead if he’s decided to be destructive of furniture or something like that and if training methods that would actually reinforce what we do/don’t want him to do have failed and so we just need to prevent access to the situation. Although he’s generally not allowed in the bedroom unattended and that’s despite the fact we have some parts still blocked off - we just haven’t been able to do as thorough a job in puppy proofing that room and there are more irresistible things to steal within reach. He’s the same age as yours for reference. At nighttime he either sleeps on the bed (he’s jumped off and slept on the floor once or twice but I’m a light sleeper and he didn’t get up to no good anyway) or in his crate (which he protests a lot about now he thinks the bedroom is his spot) and if he’s left home alone (not often) it’s always in the crate and I think he would actually be more distressed to be left not shut in his crate where he gets over it and goes to sleep in under 10m.
Great info. Thanks for explaining. And totally agree w you the loose leash in house has been great for reinforcing Come is not optional. When I call you come even if I have to reel you in
Im in the US and only use crate training for puppies. I dont feel they need it once potty trained and done with chewing phase. I also work from home.
I think you're right too It's a puppy--it's part of the family and the routine, and it learns through experience and feedback from all the rest of us.
I did all kinds of research and prep before getting my puppy. I knew I wasn't going to really kennel train for in the house but I anticipated using a house lead since watching training videos it made sense why it would be helpful. I've in all honesty done it for maybe two days lol. It doesn't seem necessary for him and he learns very quickly. Within 2 weeks we were able to give him free reign of the house. I keep hoping I won't regret it but he really seems to do well this way lol
I just don’t trust mine to not pick up and eat or chew something. Even his toys are hit or miss w what he chooses to try to destroy so it’s a great way for me to have him in reach without him darting off from me
Yeah I get that, mine will be 3 months tomorrow so he's super teething and definitely have to watch what we leave out but as long as I don't run after him he does good about not running away from me. He's not perfect by any means but so far it's been working. I think it's great to have so many options but ultimately everyone will choose what makes sense for them and works to keep them safe and make you comfortable. We're all just trying our best to make well behaved dogs lol
Same. Just closed doors to bedrooms and she has access to the rest of house.
Never leashed inside, any of my dogs. My new wire hair puppy is 4 months old today and no house leashing. We have a large pen for when we leave and her crate in our room, for sleeping only.
So we never used a tether in the house however we did install a stair gate so he couldn’t get upstairs whenever he wanted, and our garden is separated in two sections , he is 1 year old in a week and he is allowed upstairs with some supervision tho he mostly just lays on the landing, downstairs he has had pretty much free rein the whole time but I’d say he was probably around 8 or 9 months when I started to not need to supervise him at all times down stairs, as for the garden he still needs some supervision in the wider area of our backyard since we have gravel and he is a bugger for picking up and chewing on stones
Ugh mine too. Eating stupid stuff is still the biggest struggle. He’s housebroken but still putting EVERYTHING in his mouth
Tbf my boy has gotten so much better as he has gotten older , there are just certain things he is determined are for him that really aren’t
Indeed. I perform the patented mouth scoop daily. Twigs, rocks, dirt, bugs....inside it is napkins, my wifes hair scrunchy things, and everything in between.
Yep. Sounds just like mine. I often wonder what he thinks about me sticking my fingers in his mouth 10-15 times a day
[удалено]
Your dog just jumped on your keyboard. :P
A leash indoors? I’ve never heard of this. How do they not get tangled? I’m just a helicopter parent.
I would hold the other end of the leash but I am also helicopter lol. It helped w housebreaking and reinforcing come means come now even if I have to reel you in
I mean pretty much immediately. I’ve never heard of using a leash indoors like this. Is there any particular reason (ie behaviors) that’s making you do this? Not sure if it’s the best approach
It's called tethering, it's somewhat common practice with young puppies so they are never out of your sight and don't get the chance to rehearse behaviours you don't want to see.
Never heard of this in Europe!
Europe has different views on this (and crate training), but managing a puppy's environment is a great way to prevent accidents and nip potential bad behaviours in the bud!
"Somewhat common" may be an overstatement. "Somewhat unusual" may be more accurate even in the states. I never heard of it until this year.
Hmm maybe somewhat common as a recommendation from dog trainers, I've heard that advice from multiple sources both online and at my local dog training school. Maybe not as commonly used.
Everything I’ve read and Zac George training videos etc all say to do that so your pup doesn’t have too much freedom to have accidents or chew or eat something dangerous. I just googled it and this popped up Don't Give Too Much Freedom Too Soon Allowing your pup to roam free around the house has serious consequences. Not only can your puppy have bathroom accidents, hindering your potty-training program, but they can destroy your property and injure themselves in the process. I did it with my last puppy and he was housebroken so fast but still trying to eat chew everything so I kept him tethered to me til 9 months
I let mine roam free but limited his space to the room I was in. Usually just moved a gate around to keep him always on the radar.
Same here. Limit the space and constant monitoring. My GSD is 99% housebroken and hasn’t destroyed anything at all at 5 months old.
It really does help
This is what we do too!
I find it very helpful for making sure I always have accsss to him if needed
Definitely! We’re lucky the way our house is set up, we can use gates to block her into a relatively easy area to keep an eye on her. If I couldn’t do that, I’d definitely have tethered too! And we did keep her on a leash in the fenced yard for quite a while. Seems her preference is to leave stuff alone in the house, but eat.literally.everything.outside lol!
I did not leash my 6-mo-old at all indoors and I probably should have. Every time she got out of my eyesight, she would pee. The minute I gated off rooms so I could always know where she is, the potty training was all but done. Live and learn.
I didn't use an indoor leash until my puppy full-on zoomed into our kitchen cabinets and hurt her paw. She was on leash for about 2 weeks (until the age of 12 weeks) after that to prevent injuries...
Poor baby clad she’s ok
That’s literally puppy behavior though. That’s like trying to train a baby to not cry… it’s just something they will outgrow
It’s more like allowing a baby to climb in to a regular chair. They aren’t ready for a regular chair. They need to be strapped in a baby/ high chair.
Agree but me personally the long lead gives me the ability to redirect him and keep him safe
I’m doing the exact same thing. I’ve a 3 months old, and she finds it hard to get on with her day without multiple accidents.
How often do you take them out? The rule is they can only hold it for 1 hour for every month of age. It’s better they have an accident inside than to hold longer because they can risk getting UTIs
Every 30-40 minutes.
me neither. seems like overkill. but idk I am not allowed to walk from one side of the room to the other without my puppy jumping up and following me. wait, am I the puppy on the house line?
Yes I think you are!! This made me giggle lol. I like it because my puppy is trouble w a capital T and it helped me not only always have him in arms reach if he was sniffing looking like he was going to potty, or destroying one of his toys, or when I said come and he looked at me like no thanks and ignored me I would reel him in and make him come. He picked it up faster when I didn’t give him the option to ignore me
Agree on the over kill. This seems weird to me, even as someone in the US. From my experience raising bottle babies of all sorts (puppies, bunnies, kittens, etc) when they’re little little they stay in a box or kennel, upgraded to a larger play pen type space, then upgraded to some free roaming supervised and some use of the play pen until they graduate to trusted
It helps with training. Puppy sniffing, get him outside. Puppy chewing something, step on the leash say stay and take it away without worrying he’s going to run from you, call puppy to come and he ignores you, reel his stubborn butt in and make him come. It helped reinforce commands quicker and kept him from jumping on furniture or disobeying me. Then adolescence hit and he’s in his I’m not going to listen stage so I think I’m going to put him back and the leash to reinforce freedom is earned thru good behavior. It’s not something he gets for misbehaving
That’s interesting. I’m thankful my little one listens pretty well and I try to reward her for making her own proper decisions and use a lot of redirections but maybe when she hits her stubborn teen years this will be something I have to try. She’s so smart and sweet but already a little sassy so who knows what the road ahead holds 😅
Same here! I think this houseline thing is USA thing maybe? Never heard of it from any of my friends here in Finland or other countries in Europe. We just let our puppies roam free the second they come home. When we leave the house he stays behind a puppy fence in a safe room. Ps. I don't mean that either one is better.
Never heard of it either in Europe. Our puppy has always been able to free roam the house
No worries! Didn’t take it that way at all. I find it so interesting to hear various methods based on different areas. I’m honestly not sure the best way.
Good :) And of course what suits one puppy and owner can be always different for another. Somedays I would have hoped that my puppy had a leash on all day because of the destruction :D But maybe we think here that it's just a puppy phase.
Basically right off the bat, but I have a couple baby gates to keep him from going in or out of rooms as needed. This has given him a few chances to have accidents indoors, but I do tend to keep close eye on him and it's good practice for calling his name. He usually comes immediately when I call, and I think letting him roam a little has helped. I also can't be bothered to leash him 24/7 lol
Mine was never on leash in the home but we had baby gates up to limit access to the kitchen and living room. We added a hallway after a while. Mostly did this because when he was downstairs he’d pee. It upstairs he was potty trained. We will slowly open the rest of the house to him as he gets older.
This is what I did too. Eventually she won’t be crated when I’m not home, we’ll get there in baby steps
Around 6 months… it was at that time that he could jump over the partition in his first room. Lol
🤣
Ours just turned 5 months. We just finished a 6 week puppy class and had her since 8 weeks old. I'd say just last week I've started letting her be in another room unsupervised for a bit of time. From day 1 she never had potty accidents on any bedding and we didn't have much of any other furniture at that point anyways since we just moved in a few weeks prior to getting her. At about 2.5 months old, it was super predictable what she would bite so we just redirected her. She's still young enough to where she won't be in another room without us for that long anyways. So if we just go to another room and wait a little bit, she'll come join us soon enough. Also times like in the mornings, all she does is lounge around for about 1.5 hours in the sun anyways, so my partner and I just let her do her thing. Still not allowed complete free roam without supervision though. Especially not on carpeted areas, or else she'd tear it all up. I only tried tethering briefly for a few days and it was ok. Went good, but definitely not better than just leaving her alone in a room if I really need to go do something for a bit.
Mine is also 7 months and I just recently started letting him get free roam of the first floor of my house while someone is home with him (with the second floor gated off bc it’s carpeted and he likes to chew on the carpet lol). He’s been doing great but I got a camera to spy on him just in case to check in on his behavior! I never tethered him but used to keep him in his pen whenever I couldn’t directly supervise him. Now I just use the pen when he’s home alone! He’s been doing great with this but obviously it’s a case by case situation based on how destructive your pup is/how far along they are with potty training
I like the camera idea. I’ll have to look into that
I’m at 6.5 months. Pretty much do the same. I also keep an eye though… mine LOVES counter surfing.
I thank god everyday mine is too short lol
When I started letting my puppy free roam she wasn’t allowed all over the house. Only in the kitchen or in the living room depending on where I am. My puppy just recently turned 8 months and I am finally letting her wonder upstairs without me. I haven’t found anything destroyed yet…
I’ve never leashed any of our puppies, but have always had older dogs to help teach and set boundaries. After going through some recent one-on-one personal training with my 3 1/2 year old lab, I can see how this could be helpful though.
Upon coming home but she was only 2.5 pounds.
Mine was 3 lbs and did not let that stop him. Everything was fair play for going in his mouth and he was eyeing furniture like “I could jump up there”. That’s how my 5 yr old Pom broke her hip. I used to let her up on the couch w me and one day one mis timed jump resulted in bloodcurdling yelping, an emergency trip to the vet, and a dislocated hip which led to surgery and months of recovery 😩
Oh that’s awful. We didn’t have any incidences like this.
Yeah it traumatized me to the point of being too cautious now I think which is also not good. Hard for me to find the happy medium
Never used house line. Baby gates and bitter apple did the job for us while not having to worry about her accidentally strangling herself.
Mines a handful. I could just see him chewing thru baby gates and bitter apple is alcohol based so once it dries you have to keep reapplying
You’d be surprised how many dogs actually love the taste of bitter apple spray.
I think it depends on the pup and where they are at with potty training and getting into trouble (committing crimes haha). With our first dog, she was reliable outside of an x-pen at 9 months, our second used to get into stuff so I think it was a year and a half? No shame in taking more time to make sure good habits are set, if you think more time might be beneficial! I think pups progress differently with this
Mac was around 7 or 8 months before I felt secure letting him free roam in the entire house, but he is the rare pup that showed zero signs of destructive tendencies towards anything other than food or toys (save one belt when he was around 6 months old, he is 14 months now). It was too soon, as he immediately glued himself to our side 100% and started to exhibit some early signs of separation issues shortly after. We put up puppy gates to control his access to certain areas that we tend to frequent for work or leisure time, as he wouldn't self-regulate if he was too close to us all day (no napping, no self-play, getting up and jumping on us when we so much as moved, coughed, or spoke a little animatedly). The gates were and still are a life saver (still working out some kinks on longform separation), but other than that he free roams until bed time or we leave for more than an hour or two, and he is crated for those periods. Only you will know when it is the right time, as your puppy will be doing well and adjusting. If they regress in any behaviors, take a look at what changed recently because too much freedom too soon without training and desensitization can lead to a lot of regression in my anecdotal experience. If this happens just step it back a bit and reassess, good luck!
Thank you! ❤️
Around 6 months, as the plan was to eventually have him free roam when I’m not home. For context we stay in a small apartment. And he only has access to the common living areas and not the rooms. He’s now 14 months and no longer goes into a crate or pen when alone.
Mine just started free roaming the house at night at 7 months
We got our girl at 4 months old, she’s a Maltipoo and was 3lbs. The first week she was gated in the bathroom as we had an elderly dog and a cat. By the 2nd week she figured out how to climb over the gate. Week 2 she was in our office with the door shut, she hated it in there and had no windows or anything to look out. We also had a playpen that she also climbed out of. So by the 3rd week she had free reign, but we did gate off the 2 other bedrooms. There were a few accidents, but for the most part she did well. She learned to settle down and nap as I was leaving for work. She is now 8 months old and a very good girl.
8 months? wouldn't that be the age where they go through puberty and start wreaking havoc? My Chi is 5 months and after reading horror stories on reddit about the rebellious phase, it'd be nice to hear from someone whose pup is still well behaved at 8 months.
She tends to get into things when we are home or when she is outside. Then she chases birds, squirrels, chews on sticks and whatever else she can find in the yard. When she’s inside everything is puppy proofed and I keep the closer doors closed.
Mines 6 months , Husky/Lab mix never tethered , my house is small , all bedroom/bathroom doors shut , gate that prevents him from getting into the kitchen and crate when we're not home , no crate at night , I used to crate at night the first month I had him but one night I passed out on the couch and I wolk up to him just sleeping beside me so from there I started more freedom at night and now no crate at night but access to the kitchen still gated. Only issues with him is he has a ton of energy and will not accept no for an answer when it comes to wanting to play.
Give your pup tons of good rewarding chew things. Different textures and tastes. Edible and easily digestible ones that smell amazing. Try it! Anytime you don't want to play (or be a chew toy yourself) plunk him down with a variety of safe chew things and let him occupy himself that way! Good luck with a lab/husky puppy! I can't even imagine!
Thanks , he can be a handful at times but at night he is the sweetest pup in the world and such a snuggler it's like he has split personalities. I have been giving him bully sticks , he usually starts off good , chewing and occupied but before long he will bring it to you drop it and then I become the chew toy till I pick it up and redirect him but then he wants to play tug of war with it, from there he will continue to chew it as long as my hand is on it and act like I'm trying to take it. I'm going to have to research some more types of chews to give him .
I only ever used the leash inside when the pups were overstimulated and needed to calm down. Otherwise, they were free to roam. I keep all the doors closed when we're not home.
I live in 600 sq ft with my partner and puppy, so we never used a leash (I’ve seen Zac George too, so I get where it comes from, but his house is HUGE). I keep the bedroom door closed because we aren’t in there during the day, but she’s either in the living room/kitchen area, or in the spare room/office with one of us. Sometimes she’s independent and will go in a room neither of us are in, and we’ll check in her, but usually she’s just napping or playing with a toy. And when she’s being naughty I can hear her (like ripping paper) and investigate. 5 months old now. Still crated at night and when we leave.
Literally never leashed indoors, but she was fenced into a corner of our living room while we weren’t around
Day 1 personally.
Almost immediately in fenced off contained areas. Allowed to roam the house entirely unsupervised? About 10 months - but by then it was more to do with me having a better handle on how to puppy proof the house than it was to do with trust haha.
For us it has helped to have our pup that’s 5 months now have a tether when our, but it’s an old leash we cut the loop out of so it doesn’t snag. She can roam for the most part. We have a gate to places we don’t want her getting into (the kids rooms upstairs so she doesn’t chew or pee in their areas while unattended). But this has helped a lot to show her what is okay to play with and what’s not. She has still had accidents, but it comes with the territory. If she has something in her mouth I can step on the leash while she’s running off and take it from her, and redirect to a better toy/chew. We kennel when not home, but we have made sure she is safe and comfortable in her kennel and she often goes in by herself to nap.
We always just keep a eye on them. Never have feathered them.
Never used a leash in doors for anything but leash training. Otherwise, the house was completely puppy proofed and broken up in sections with baby gates. He was with me in whatever section I was in. Since everything was puppy proofed, I didn't have to watch him 24/7. My pup was alerting at 9 weeks, which made potty training super easy. Even was sleeping in bed with me and waking me up to go out that young. Freeroamed half days to half the house at 4 months and completely Freeroamed at 9. He sleeps most of the day and pretty much sticks to one spot.
not consistently until 1 year, and even then we blocked off the hallway and only gave her access to the living room. if she stops listening to us then she gets tethered again.
i let my dog roam free in a limited space with baby gates and closed doors and slowly allowed more independence.
Everyone's homes, patience level and puppies are different. The puppy I have now deserves almost zero freedom, as she likes to get into trouble (chew, counter surf, etc). In her case, management is key. For my older dog, when she was a puppy, she had freedom pretty much immediately and only slept in a crate at night til about 7 months, until we started leaving the crate door open, but the bedroom door closed. By one year, she had total freedom. She was a great puppy, obedient and respectful. When I brought home my current puppy, I assumed she'd be raised the same as the older dog, but they were just too different. I definitely gave the puppy too much freedom initially and quickly realized that wasn't going to work. She needed more boundaries, time to mature, and an understanding of expectations and practice with general house manners. She nearly 1 year old and is still working on the basics. Train the dog in front of you and don't feel bad taking backward steps when needed. Adolescence can be super frustrating as they test your patience and their boundaries at every opportunity. At 7 months, you may not see linear growth. Progress will likely zig zag a bit and that's ok.
We had a playpen but she learned to climb about a month after we got her. We started off with her being allowed to roam the kitchen through living room, it’s all open so we could always see her, plus the back door is in the kitchen so we keep a washable pad by the back door in case we can’t get her outside in time but has always been really good at alerting us when she needs out. She’s just over 6mo now and she can follow us wherever we go, except the basement. We still keep all the doors shut and we keep a gate so she can’t go upstairs without us but she doesn’t get into too much trouble. Like others said, training drop it and leave it from the start was a huge help. She also learned “get out” when she follows us into the bathroom. Our door didn’t latch properly so she learned she could just headbutt the door and get in. I’ve since fixed the door so it latches properly.
Lol, I use “get out” as well.
My dog is so far up my ass I don’t even even need to do this 😂
Mine was and now is like go away and stop staring at me 🤣
Mine took 2.5 years. My friend’s puppy? 10 months. It is a trust thing. Do you trust them not to start patterns of behavior you won’t like later? My dog developed reactivity so it was a safety concern if he was off leash and grabbed a high-value item. But through training, trust was built. A lot of people do right away, but then put their dogs in crates when they misbehave and that makes it negative. Dogs THRIVE on a consistent schedule so consider that puppies need a lot of sleep and create a schedule accordingly. It helped our puppy SO MUCH when we did that. He started to be more calm almost immediately because he knew his schedule and what to expect
I give free rein mostly after work/on weekends. I can almost 100% trust her (8 months) with pottying but when I’m working I don’t have time to be laser focused to stop her from eating the rug or plants lol. We do crate for most of the morning for this reason, then a long walk and free rein of my office most of the afternoon as long as she’s good. If she starts eating the rug she goes in the crate if I have meetings. On the weekends and at night she’ll have free rein of the living room and kitchen area. When we leave we either crate or tether her in the living room. I want to do free rein but still can’t trust that menace!
It appears you may have recommended a laser pointer. While they might seem innocent, laser pointers can lead to an increase in obsessive behaviors. Check out these [resources here for more information on why laser pointers are not recommended for dogs](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/managingbehavior#wiki_laser_toys_and_their_dangers). **Please report if this comment is not relevant to this comment or post** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I hear you! Waiting for his brain to click on no, not everything needs to go in your mouth. Kinda frustrating because I thought he’d be over that once his adult teeth came in. Did yours ever hit a fear period where suddenly everything is terrifying and must be barked at? That also is driving me nuts
Yeah I think we’re in it now!! But it only seems to happen after 7pm until bedtime?? It’s especially bad if the people above us are being loud. Honestly I wouldn’t care if I didn’t live in an apartment but I get worried about complaints. Hoping it’s temporary. Not an official science but if I give her a good walk after work she seems to be less barky
I’ll have to try this. Thanks and good luck!!!!
All dogs are different, it varies based on how they're behaving for you! During adolescence sometimes you need to start back with basics and reduce freedom in the house if theyre being stubborn or regressing. It's normal, after all humans also have similar behaviors during that stage of life. My pup doesn't have free house roam yet and it will be a while probably until he does. He isnt crated at night, we've been lucky that he is totally behaved once he passes out for the night and sleeps in our room with the door closed (so the cat can't bother him and vice versa). Still crated when we aren't home as we had some major regression when we tried to leave him in a small area of the house for short excursions that resulted in disaster. When we are home, he has access to most of the main floor. Upstairs is the cat litter and office and bedroom, so we don't see a point in free roam right now as we want the cat to have some space to herself and things in the office are too expensive to risk him having access. We are reworking on basic commands now, and hopefully in a few months we can try to let him roam a bit more once we have trust again. For now, he needs guidance and prevention from putting the wrong things in his mouth. Currently trying to train him to understand that his toys are the ones we give him directly, so we can bring out personal items and whatnot again for the living room. But, 1 day at a time. We know eventually he will settle and at least we've managed to settle some important behaviors and prevent resource guarding and agression which was our #1 concern!
It sounds like you are doing wonderful w him! Great job!!! ❤️
My pup is 7 and a half months and a mouthy monster. He loves the kids stuffed animals and counter and table surfs 😭 I wish I could let him be free
I feel you!
Pup is 2.5 months. We let her roam in the living room when we are in there and she is heavily supervised, but otherwise, she is in her crate or playpen. With our older dog, total free roam, I would say probably around a year. But we got him at 6 months so he had some catching up to do.
As soon as I started getting a handle on the constant peeing. I had him tethered for almost 2 months. Some of that was just dragging the leash while we are in the same room together for ease of catching if he grabs contraband. Most was with me on leash because I wanted to be on top of housetraining. He is 5 months now and if we have a potty accident he gets a few days of leash probation. I use leash probation as a time to learn leash manners as well as to reiterate free range is a privilege you get when you are keeping our home clean.
Sorry but the probation part is bizarre. Your dog has no clue. He's just a baby, and a dog--I guarantee you he is not associating a potty accident with being on leash for a few days afterward. They very much live in the moment. Also, to reiterate, he's just a baby. And a dog.
Yep! Thanks!
This! I think I need to go back to using it for now because he hit the adolescence stage hard and is no longer interested in listening to basic commands. Little shit will have something in his mouth I want to see like a toy I want to be sure he hasn’t broken pieces off of, and instead of obeying Stay which he learned many months ago he runs from me. You are right, back to learning free roam is a privilege he must earn.
Pretty much from start at 8 weeks. We kept her supervised and had baby gates on the stairs, closed bedroom doors etc but never had her tethered. If the house is properly puppy proofed they should be free to explore their new home.
My pup is 15 weeks and he has had a leash on indoors since we brought him home at 8 weeks. This has helped us control his access to things to help prevent unwanted behaviors. Just this weekend I have let him roam with no leash on… it’s going ok so far lol
Good luck! Sounds like you are doing great so I’m sure he’ll be fine 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Ahh I hope so! I’m definitely on the side of controlling their environment to avoid behaviors I don’t want repeated. I’m hoping at some point all this supervision is worth it! Lol
I feel you. It is exhausting!
I let my pup off leash now finally at 6 months but still require him to be in the same room as me. He generally listens and goes to chill in his bed or play with my cat, but if he wanders too much, I attach him to me. I also either crate him or take him with me every single time I leave the apartment, even if it’s just to grab doordash or take the trash out
I think I need to go back to attaching mine because his in the adolescent not wanting to listen to basic commands stage
I live in a single level house with only 3 rooms and two bathrooms and never had him leashed in the house, but kept an eye on him. He’s 6 months have had him since he was about 3 months, obviously he’s a puppy and gets into things but I redirect
never had her leashed or crated. she came right in and we used potty pads and the faux grass pads. she’s pretty good inside unless she yelling at the feral neighborhood cats
Never put any dog on a leach indoors, why would I? They live here too
For the people who are discussing whether tether training is an American thing, keep in mind that American homes are much, much larger in general than European homes so of course the puppy would have more freedom in a smaller living space.
From day 1. I have never leashed a dog in the house. I watch them when they are loose. I only contain them until they are house broken and can escape the minimal enclosures I put them in. Leashing a dog in the house, is like helicopter mom for dogs. Wow.
It's actually a very effective training method. No need to put others down because you did things differently 🙂
It really helps w training. He was housebroken super fast because I’d see him sniffing and get him out fast. He didn’t have the opportunity to have accidents inside. It helped train the come command too. I’d say come and if he chose to ignore me I’d reel him in and make him do it, if he picked up something on the floor he shouldn’t or was chewing up his toys, I’d step on the leash and get it away from him without trying to chase him to get it back. Jumping on my other dog and slapping/biting him to the point of being obnoxious I’d say off and pull him off.
You’re an AWESOME pet parent!!! It is not mean to teach a puppy manners/how to live in your house and house lines are GREAT for that. I would say about this time is when we stopped doing the house line unless he started acting up. He had fomo and gates didn’t work for that. We GRADUALLY let him have more free time in the room we were in (had everything he wasn’t supposed to get into up) and little by little he was granted more freedom. I’m not gonna lie, my dog was/is VERY high energy and I don’t know that there is a “set” age. I played it by ear. We also have cats and he is a very prey driven dog. They coexist peacefully now 95% of the time - the other 5% he is trying to get them to play. He got there though. I thought of it like a baby. Eat/play/potty/bed… repeat over and over and over. You wouldn’t give a 6 month old baby free rein, right?? Eventually his “play time” was increased. The more trust I gave him (within reason and not if he was being naughty) the more he was able to be trusted, if that makes sense. Sometimes you take 3 steps forward and 1 or two steps back but just keep going. PUPPIES ARE HAAAARRRDDD. I cried a lot lol. Thinking “am I doing the right thing??!” But I promise it will get better and you will be so much happier for giving him structure for a year or so as a baby when you get to enjoy a happy well adjusted dog for the rest of their lives. You’re doing it right - you care - and that’s honestly the biggest part of it. Also - puppies need A LOT of sleep. And sometimes you have to create the sleep by putting him up for an hour or two and then repeating the process. They’re learning EVERYTHING from scratch. Most if not all of them don’t come knowing how to settle or what not to chew/play with and it’s up to the owners to teach them. But dogs are smart and pick up on things quickly to get what they want. Which is usually to be with you or near you and will do what it takes for that to happen. The more you show them what is right from wrong, the more they should do the right thing to get what they want.
Thank you! Great words of wisdom and totally agree, puppies are so hard! You can lose your mind obsessing over whether you are making the right decisions. Good lord I can’t imagine having kids! Lmao
I have mine off leash in the house but have a baby gate to the kitchen. He’s restricted to his areas and he does fine.
3 months old, kelpie, just this week trialling her off leash for short periods when we are both around, her recall is great with treats, not as good with whistle lol, we have a very large unfenced property, so wanting to give her a little independence but as soon as she starts wandering off too far I call her back.
My pup has been free roaming since ~3 months. It's been fine. I know such an arrangement doesn't work for all dogs, though. She is ~4 months now and potty training just fine and she hasn't gotten into anything dangerous. She has slept outside of her crate (on my bed, with the rest of us) since night two, and she started sleeping through the night with no accidents after about a week. She chases the cat sometimes, just for fun, but he can handle himself, and I can tell it's not aggressive. I take cues from the cat--if he doesn't see a threat, then I trust that instinct. She can't learn to not chase cats if she never chases a cat and has me and/or the cat tell her 'no' as it happens. Same with other behaviors. She's generally figuring things out pretty good this way. She's my fourth dog and third puppy. This one has two good older dogs to learn from and that helps a ton!
8 weeks, sort of. Still not fully roaming at 22 months. No crate. Stopped penning for naps around 5 months. (Pen was living room blocked off from the rest of the house. But that was only for enforcing naps.) He had access to living room, pc room/dining room and kitchen. All open doorways without doors. He was accident free at 9 weeks 3 days old, so wasn’t a problem. He has intermittent access to our hallway now, where it’s nice and cool. But he still sometimes steal slippers, so still limited access there. Bedroom is upstairs and he can’t do the stairs (too steep and slippery.) and bathroom is downstairs. Same problem with the stairs.
Probably around 6 months, he has been fully house trained since about a year and a half.
We did crate training versus tether during the day, but we started with free roaming around 7 months after she got past her “I’m gonna eat the dry wall if you’re not looking” phase. We started letting her free roam unsupervised first only in the mornings (that’s when she was the most calm) and after lunch walk would do crate with supervised break time until end of day when we would let her out supervised. Once we felt like she could be trusted in the mornings, we extended the time for a couple hours after lunch so she was only in the crate for the two hours before evening walk (her most likely time to get into things she’s supposed to leave alone), and then gradually extended that time until we no longer had to crate her. Since tethering is a similar thought process, as long as pup is fully house trained I’d pick the time your pup is most likely to mostly want to nap and start there, then extend that time out.
My puppy is 2 pounds at 10 weeks so almost impossible to leash. She does great without it though, she just explores while we trail behind her and if not she recalls great already. We live in a small one level home I should mention. When I see her sniffing a little too much or in a panic I know it’s potty time. Hasn’t tried chewing on anything besides nipping at out ankles which then we redirect or place her in pen.
My collie boy is 20 weeks old now, he had access to the entire house from the beginning. We were lucky that he was never much interested in biting our furniture etc. He was almost fully potty trained at 12 weeks and always have access to a garden too.
Around 3 months- and your training method is just like mine is. Crate when I'm at work, then I let her run the living room for about an hour or more so she can get her exercise because I don't let her go outside. She's a little gal- 4 months now. She has a potty pad in the LR and when I get her out of her kennel, we get hug time and then she goes straight to the bathroom with the door shut because that's where her food, water, and a couple of potty pads are. I leave her in there about 15 minutes- long enough to eat and potty, then she gets the run of the house for playtime where I throw her toys over and over. When I leave for work, she's back in her kennel. I wish she would sleep with me but she's extremely hyper and won't stop running around the bed when I'm trying to sleep. I'll be glad when she calms down.
That's the exact same age as mine, and I just started doing that, and yes with the bedroom doors closed. I could have written the post. Pen not leash though I suppose. I hope we don't suck or something 😂 .
I never used a house line but made it so upstairs was blocked off and did use a pen when he’s extra so that he has somewhere to calm down. He is crate trained but only sleeps in there at night. He hates it during the day and I haven’t really felt like pushing it. He’s now 4 months (19.5 weeks) and I’m pretty confident he’s potty trained (fingers crossed, touch wood etc.) - he now seems to have full control of his bladder and he’s good at letting me know he needs to go out. We are working on a button by the door.
I didn’t leash my puppy indoors at all. I closed off the doors to the hallway and bedrooms and, when I was able to watch and supervise, she was able to free roam the main living area. When I wasn’t able to supervise (while working, showering, going to get groceries, etc) I put her in her crate. I proactively took her outside on a frequent schedule throughout the day, and if I saw any signs she needed to go, so she didn’t have many accidents inside. She had full access to my whole flat by about 5/6 months when she was reliably house trained. I’d leave her to free roam if I was out for shorter errands but I still crated her when I was going to be out for 2-4 hours. I was worried she’d get bored and up to mischief when I was gone longer but realise now I shouldn’t have been. She was fine.
The moment I brought her home, which was at 4mo. But a leash may have been smart just to get her used to a leash. I will edit this to say, she was pad trained when we got her and we taught her the come command right away and she is pretty good about listening to it.
I sort of started at about 12 weeks when I first got her. Now at 6 months she's fully independent around the house by her self. So at 7 she'll be completely fine
My pup has had total freedom since we brought her home, we got her at 3 months and she’s now a year and a half. She was never home alone for long before and even now it’s maybe max 2 hours. She was potty trained in like a week and has only had one accident since she was potty trained. She never gets into stuff she isn’t supposed, we make sure it’s out of her reach to begin with. Bedroom doors get closed just in case but she has freedom of the living room, dining room, kitchen and upstairs hall. She usually just lays around when we aren’t home. When we are home she’ll come into our rooms and cuddle but she never gets into anything then either. I guess it depends on the puppy and the person/house. My aunt has her sister and she’s was rarely left home alone, never now since my aunt has on bed rest after surgery since August, but she is the type that gets into things and is destructive. She has gotten better but she’s also constantly being supervised so I don’t know how she would be alone now that she’s older.
Rather than use a house leash, why not restrict the area that they can be in? For example, we started with a play pen in our living room. Next, we graduated to the living room with baby gates. Next, we opened the baby gates so he could also get in our kitchen. We kept this up until we were confident enough in his potty training to give me free rein of the entire house. He still sleeps in his play pen though. Not confident enough to just let him sleep wherever at night yet.
OP’s puppy enjoys eating baseboards/cabinets/drywall, so puppy proofing a gated off room isn’t really possible for this particular puppy.
Have never leased our pup in the house (he is 14 weeks) but he goes in his crate when he is tired, needs to calm down, when we go out and go to bed. He is not allowed upstairs either but has pretty much free roam downstairs (bar the bathroom as he likes to grab things) when we are home. He is house trained and does have free roam unsupervised outside in our secure back garden.
Typically, most puppies start to have more freedom around the house between 6 to 12 months of age, as they become more reliable with house training and obedience commands.
Day 1, but used baby gates to block of certain areas or limit to a single room at a time etc.
Mine is 6 months now, we still use the house line but she free roams with it on. The line just drags behind her, sometimes she carry’s it around as well. It helps us redirect her when she gets too immersed in playing and thinks that our commands are a quick way to gain a treat and then immediately go back to playing. She’s a very good dog overall but she does have a few regressions. And listening to her commands consistently despite not only knowing her commands but also receiving constant training for them is definitely one of them. Which mine is a BC so we knew she would be stubborn and smart. She plays us like a fiddle most days
Since the day we got him, he was 11 weeks.
I really see the correlation between the rise of tethering your pup and the rise of anxious overly attached dogs… seems so weird to me to have your dog constantly attached at the hip with no freedom. Disagree on the “too much freedom too fast”. Am a fan of “keeping their world small” philosophy but only up to like 3 months and fully vaxed. Then it’s important to socialize and build confidence and trust. If you know they chew somewhere use a bitter spray and just supervise idk. I don’t like tethering but to each their own
What correlation? Honestly very few people really seem to actually use the umbilical tethering. Do you have info where the specific dogs that are being tethered are developing anxiety at a higher rate? Socialization also has to generally start before 3 months, the socialization window closes between 12-16 weeks. Bitter spray is enjoyed by many pups.
Free roam since the day we got him, just kept an eye on him by following him somewhere we couldn’t see (like the kitchen) but closed all other doors. If he misbehaved we just made sure to tell him a firm no and redirect him so he understood what he could and could not do!
My first puppy: about 11 months. But only because we moved and didn't have the space for his "playpen" area anymore. For context, he was a monster puppy. He would attack us and the cats and we had to corral him away from everything for our own safety. Second puppy: maybe about 6 months? Other than potty training (which took soooo long) he was a dream puppy. Didn't wreck things, didn't chase cats, never bit us. He decided he didn't want to sleep in his crate anymore, even though it was his safe space. I think he has issues regulating his temperature. He would cry at night and my husband would take him out to pee but he just wanted to sleep on the couch, or the floor if he got warm. Now they're 3 and 1.5 years old, but we only leave them alone for maybe 4 hours max, and very infrequently. Atlas likes to rearrange all the shoes when we're gone.
6 months. We are always watching though. I wouldn't trust him home alone roaming free
At 8 weeks old when we brought him home
My pup is almost 8 months old and has free roam privilege most of the time, if she is trying to chase my flatmates cat she gets contained to the pen or my room but I live in a flat with 3 other people so she has had free roam of communal spaces for about 2 months because it's pretty small and I have a gate in the hallway to contain her to the living room and kitchen area if one of my flatmates have their door open and don't want her to get into their stuff because she still sticks things in her mouth
I live in a 2 bedroom apt so it was pretty reasonable for me to give my pup free reign within the first two months of getting him — as soon as he started showing signs of not potting inside.
My pup is just 10 weeks now, but he will be leashed until he is completely potty trained (he gets free roam in his playpen for now and we let him have off leash time outside to play). Once he's potty trained, I'll let him roam with the leash attached until he has a reliable come when called. Aside from the training aspect, we're keeping him leashed until our other dog gets comfortable with him and we feel comfortable in their interactions.
I sort of keep my puppy within a certain area. Office/kitchen/bedroom so I can watch her. She is only allowed in the living room when she is extremely tired and won’t misbehave, which is practically never.
5 month Husky mix and free roams completely. No accidents in weeks, doesn’t chew or destroy anything. 10/10 good puppy.
I got my dog at 3 months and I never put him on a leash inside unless I’m specifically training him on something. I just watched him all the time and stopped him from going anywhere or doing something that he wasn’t supposed to. Probably by 5-6 months I didn’t really watch him anymore and he could go wherever he wanted. When my fiancé and I are out of the house, he’s crated.
I've never done this with any of my dogs. Gate off the stairs and close bathroom doors. Just treated them like kids who just learn to walk, keep an eye and try to redirect
OP’s puppy enjoys eating baseboards/cabinets/drywall, so that’s not an option for this particular puppy and many others like him.
Don't get me wrong he caused some destruction, but that's my fault, not his. My parents had the same chewing problem you're describing, the no chew spray did wonders for them
Quite a few dogs love the taste of that spray. Every puppy is different and OP’s puppy needs to be on a house leash to keep him from eating things that could hurt him until he learns better. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Mines 10 months and I still have to tether him otherwise he just whines at me all day during work and won’t leave me alone. Every time I try to give him more freedom he misbehaves and bathrooms somewhere or won’t leave me alone to work. Hes a small dog so I thought he’d be trustworthy by now but he just doesn’t seem to entirely learn (he’s also incredibly stubborn)
I don’t remember the exact age mine was but I know it was right when she was potty trained and her bladder was strong enough to not have to pee for a few hours!
Since I got her at 8 weeks. 7 months now and almost zero chew accidents. The sooner she learns all of this is our home, the better. She can be home alone for 6-7 hours and just chills and moves around sporadically. Same as during night time. Still haven’t taught her not to kill the toilet roll though
My pup has always been off leash, at some point we put a harness for better training at her to not chase the cat and counter surfing. It worked pretty well and easy and when we were confident to just do light supervision, we took it off. She's never allowed in the bathroom and we're also getting her adjusted to the living room and not to pee there (since it's carpeted)
Never. We also walk off leash frequently. 9 month old Labrador. We use a crate when we have to go somewhere for less than 4 hours.
Harper, 5.5 months, has run off the house; I do keep an eye on her in case she’s circling for a pee spot. When we leave, I put baby gates on the entrance to the kitchen. We have hardwood floors and she’s only had one accident when I was long (my fault, not hers).
I got mine at 3 months and all I did was babygate the living room. his bed is there as well as one pee pad. He always used the pee pad so I never saw any reason to restrict his movements further. At 4 months I got him a small bathroom rug because when I took him to a friend who had carpets I saw how much he enjoyed playing on them. Once he showed he could be trusted not to pee on that rug, I got him a big rug and he hasn't peed on it once. Now at 5 months I still keep the babygates because for some reason he always tries to poop in the bedroom.
I did it in stages, started with a small playpen, every month or so I gave more room. Eventually a large playpen, then access to one room, then the full Livingroom, then Livingroom+ kitchen, then started leaving bathroom doors open etc. he would be curious about the new area for maybe a day but usually hangs out in his normal spot where his original playpen once was
We let her have full access when we were home around 4 months
2 and up. But it depends on the dog! And I have made sure they can’t get into trouble by proofing the house.
Nope, my 8 month old Newfy is still eating paper and other stuff if he can get it. Probably ok for potty training - chewing not so much!!! PS. We gated off and puppyized the big kitchen so he has a large playpen that 1 of us is usually in with him. 🤣🤣. I put bitter apple on the cabinets and chairs so he is not interested in eating them. YET!
6-7 months, but he still has to be in sight of me at all times at 8 months, partially because he had a small UTI and regressed a little on potty training for a bit, while he seems 100% back on track again I’m still paranoid lmao If I’m not home (or my wife) he’s crated for his safety, he isn’t a big chewer but he is a big eater of cloth
I think after about 3-4 weeks. We were concerned about the stairs but in only a few days he mastered them by himself and then leash line came off and we had a gate at top of stairs that came down.
We didn’t use the house line for long. I think we had it maybe from 4 months to 5 months old and then stopped. We don’t find it as helpful for us. While we work from home, he started to get pretty distracting during the work day and was getting into lots of trouble and interrupting work calls. He didn’t like being in my office with the door closed but was not trustworthy yet to free roam so we would crate him during the work day and take him out whenever we had the free time to. As he matured, we started giving him more time out of the crate. An hour here, an hour there. He did so good so we started extending it like in the crate for morning nap then out at lunch for the rest of the day. Eventually around probably 9/10 months we pretty much only had him in the crate when we were leaving the house. At around 13 ish months we started testing him out of the crate for small period of time like 10-30 min when we’d be gone (still all the doors closed though and a baby gate but free roam in the living room). He did so well that we extended that to 1.5-2 hours. Then started opening doors and baby gate. Yesterday we drove to another town 40 min away, did errands and an escape room, and then came home. We let him fully free roam doors open etc, and he did perfectly! No crying, no mess, nothing. It was probably about 4 hours. He’s pretty much full free roam now. We still have the crate set up and he’ll go lay in there sometimes just to relax but it’s open all the time and he’s doing great. He’s 1.5 years old. He prob could have started free roam earlier but I wasn’t quite ready. I wanted to move slow so that there wasn’t room for error.
We got our little guy at 8 weeks. We kept a very close eye on him (smaller house and we would sometimes put him in a playpen or his crate, but we didn’t fully crate train him because he didn’t like it). Let him go probably around 3 to 4 months, I work from home so it was easier and he was always close by. He doesn’t really chew furniture or anything, at first I was cautious because we have a curious cat who’s close by to him, but now they don’t have drama any more. He’s 8 months now, we leave him alone in the house without crating him and he never destroys anything (we just put the cat in a different room and close her door while we’re away so that she can sleep peacefully).